Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to communications and more particularly to cable network communications.
Description of Related Art
Communication systems are well known and include wireless networks, wired networks, satellite networks, and various other types of networks. Wired networks use wiring or fiber to direct communications between communication devices while wireless networks support communications wirelessly. Cable networks are a type of wired network that have been in existence for many years. Cable networks include an interconnected system of coaxial cables, which is referred to as cable plant or service provider cabling. The cable plant services communications between service provider equipment and customer located equipment and provides an excellent signal path between such devices, as compared to other media types. When originally constructed, cable networks serviced only broadcast television signals. As the Internet became popular, the cable networks were then used to provide Internet access. Now, cable networks are used to service broadcast television, Internet access, video-on-demand, streamed music, and other types of communications. The Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standards govern many communications between service provider equipment and customer located equipment.
With the advent and growth of cable networks, in order to distribute communications within the home, most homes included in-home cabling. Originally, in-home cabling was only used to distribute broadcast television within the home (or other premises). Now, in-home cabling also supports communications between devices located within the home, e.g., data networking, network storage, shared printing devices, video streaming between devices, and other types of intra-home communications. The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) has promulgated standards to support intra-home communications that use premises cabling. MoCA standards were promulgated to coexist with DOCSIS standards. Ever increasing demand for high speed internet access, streaming video, and streaming audio will place demands on both the service provider cabling and premises cabling, which will likely result in conflicting communications requirements.